


An "All You Can Eat Buffet", But For Feelings

by PaleNoFace



Series: Smeet Army AU [9]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute GIR (Invader Zim), Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, I Love You, M/M, No Angst, Older Dib (Invader Zim), Parent Dib (Invader Zim), Parent Zim (Invader Zim), Self-Acceptance, Self-Indulgent, Short One Shot, Tall Zim (Invader Zim), Zim is Bad at Feelings (Invader Zim), gir's appreciation hour, he is learning tho !
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleNoFace/pseuds/PaleNoFace
Summary: Zim learns to use his favorite words, and to let others use them on him.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Zim (Invader Zim) & Original Character(s)
Series: Smeet Army AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658659
Comments: 18
Kudos: 57





	An "All You Can Eat Buffet", But For Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me gushing over Zim learning empathy and love, don't mind me.

It goes like this.

Three little words, that he tries on GIR first, and he ends up drenched in robot tears.

Three little words, whispered late at night to exhausted smeets, and returned just as easily.

Three little words, met with a smile and a kiss.

And _sure_ , Irkens might not love, or be built to live in community, or be able to follow any other rules but theirs.

But _come on_. It's Zim we're talking about. It wouldn't be his story if everyone followed the rules.

It goes like this.

Zim kisses Dib for the first time on a stormy night, along with a confession and a surrender.

It's wet and a little awkward, and it turns into something more _very fast_ \- something physical and _important_ , although Zim isn't quite aware of it at this point in time, and won't be until much later. It's another twist in their chaotic relationship, and somehow it still feels like a straight line. It feels right, and everything else in the universe is a mess, and the two of them are messier than ever, and it's somehow better this way.

It goes like this :

When Noods hatches, Zim and Dib have a fight. They're both on the same side, with her best interests at heart, and yet still end up yelling at each-other. Zim locks himself and the defective smeet in a storage room, and lets Dib murmur apologies through the door.

Noods coos and chirps in his arms, requests pets and kisses, and Zim is all too happy to oblige.

He spends hours kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her hands, and marvels at every little delighted sound she makes.

(He lets Dib in.)

(He always does, in the end. That's the only reason they manage to make it work.)

It goes like...

Like the natural consequence of a big explosion.

Like a gentle roll down a hill once the top has been reached.

Like the only outlet of all that energy drumming under the skin.

Like respect, and a deserved price, and a promise.

It goes _crack_ when Noods smashes her face into his, all enthusiasm and too much teeth, and Zim croaks and flails at the attack because he knows it'll make her laugh.

It goes _fwoop-fwoop_ when Artie curls up in his arms after a long day and asks for attention without words, and Zim simply rests his lips between his antennae.

It goes _bzzt_ when Gus jumps up and down the lab and into his lap to smack a loud kiss between his eyes, and Zim is way too happy to return the favor.

It goes like...

Like something he deserves, like finally getting the kind of attention he craves, like finally being seen, when Dib leans in to smash their mouths together. And Dib sees him, in all his misfit, fucked-up glory. He sees him all, and still stands by him, still kisses him ever so gently, as if by pressing too hard he might just break him.

Foolish Dib.

Foolish Dib, and his foolish love that contaminates everything, and his soft butterfly kisses that taste like coffee and medication.

(Like Zim would break, simply by being loved too much. Like there is such a thing as loving too much. Like Zim's heart isn't big enough to fit four people and a robot.)

It goes like this.

Zim spends so much time caring for the smeets that he sometimes forget to care about himself. Dib, Irk bless his big brain, never forgets : they eat and sleep and spend time out of the house and fight rogue aliens and go on adventures and build stupid machines that explode within a day.

And they kiss.

It goes like this, a quick peck on the corner of the mouth, a soft brush on the temple, a gentle press against his cheek. To Zim, they taste like recognition and admiration.

(To Dib, they simply taste like love).

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos, it feeds the author's motivation !


End file.
